A beaming Martin Jol was pleased with Fulham’s second-half display as they comeback from behind to hit five against a stunned Newcastle at Craven Cottage yesterday afternoon.
Jol’s side were a goal down at the interval, but a Clint Dempsey hat-trick and penalties from Danny Murphy and Bobby Zamora saw the Whites storm to their fourth home win in five league games. A couple of tactical tweaks saw Fulham far more effective in the second half. The switch to 4-4-2 seemed to suit the home side far better, whilst Chris Baird added composure and authority in central midfield.
You can explain everything. The first half we knew that we had to be a threat in behind [Mike] Williamson and [Fabricio] Coloccini, but we never did that. We couldn’t exploit our extra man in midfield and in the second half it was different because we decided to play a more direct style.
That caused them more problems. The first half was sort of Brixton, the second half was a holiday in Jamaica. It was an unbelievable difference.
Clint Dempsey is our top scorer. He is a wide player and our top scorer. He is doing what he does best. Clint scores goals and if he can score 12 goals this year and some other players do we will be fine.
